In Memoriam
by Overwatch Trooper 12
Summary: What if Ooarai lost the finals? What would happen to our hero's? What will happen to the school? Most importantly, what would the future bring? This story answers all those questions. The tragedy version of the next chapter of the Girls und Panzer series (In my opinion of course). Please review, comment and read all author's notes in the chapters.
1. Chapter 1 - An Unpredictable Future

In Memory of…

The Tiger I advanced into the decilent school area as it chased after Miho and her teams Panzer IV. The Ooarai's Tiger P followed close behind and sliding its hull to a twist at the front entrance of which both sisters went storming through. As the rest of the Black Forest team closed in, the Tiger P kept on continuously bouncing off enemy shells till its armor finally gave way to its weak spots.

Meanwhile in the turns and corners of the abandoned school, Miho's team came to an open square where they began to turn for a slight corner when she noticed Maho's tank pulling up right in front of them.

"There is no running away in the Nishizumi-style." she paused, "We both have no choice but to end this here."

"I accept your challenge." Miho replied firmly back.

A brief moment of silence was between them. Then the Panzer IV bolted pass the Tiger I and back into the winding curves and turns of the alley. Meanwhile, the other Black Forest teams began to ponder on how to get past the broken Tiger P that blocked the front entrance. However, after minutes of trying, they finally got through and began to pursuit to their leader.

By the time they got there though, a large cloud of dark smoke had engulfed the square where the two sisters were fighting. Everyone held their breaths and waited for the smoke to clear to see who the victor was.

The white flag emerged… The Panzer IV was out…

Suddenly, a loud voice came over the loudspeaker, "All of Ooarai Girls High School's vehicles have been eliminated! Kuromorimine is the winner!"

The sight and sound of this message caused the teams of Ooarai to fall to shame. A few teams, including Rabbit Team, were sobbing while others like Turtle and Hippo Team were discouraged and disappointed, with the exception of Momo crying aloud.

I can't believe this." Anzu murmured, "We actually lost."

"After all that hard work and strategy, we have been defeated." Erwin said cross.

"Indeed it's a sad day for us." said Cesar.

Miho poked her whole head out of the tank to only see the sight of her sister staring back blankly. The other girls of Miho's team opened up the side hatches to look behind them and see the white flag waving back and forth. They all faced back in a state of shock. They all knew what was going to happen. Erika and the rest of the Black Forest Peak tanks pulled in and surrounded the two incapacitated tanks.

"Ha ha…Once again we are victorious!" boasted Erika to the other girls behind her.

Maho turned her head and swiftfully faced her Co-Commander in irritation.

"Erika please…"

Turning back to her younger sister, Maho noticed her siblings face downcasted.

Later that day, all the teams were transported back to their schools holding areas. All of Ooarai's girl teams were in shame, Miho and her team pulled up on a truck carrying their destroyed Panzer IV behind it.

"Umm… Hello everyone." Miho stuttered, "I have some bad news."

"Yes we know you do." replied Anzu in a lowered tone.

Miho fell silent until Yukari broke into the conversation.

"I know everyone is sad but we must all try to come together and think for a moment. Is the whole school getting closed down or just our Tankery team?"

"Both I'm afraid; our council double checked the documents the night before the games." Yuzu answered.

"This is completely unfair!" bursted both Saori and Hana.

"I know but what can we do? There's not another fundraisers that are coming up to collect enough money for." Momo said disappointed.

"It's all over." Mako finally spoke.

Everyone stopped and turned towards her. Then the student council steeped up to her.

"That doesn't mean we can skip this." Anzu grimly responded while holding out an Anglerfish Suit to Miho. She felt a shiver go down her spine when she learned about the truth of the future. She accepted the suit and walked away, Hana, Yukari, Saori, and Mako did the same once they obtained their suits. Later on that day, as Anglerfish Team and Turtle Team performed their dance on stage, Miho noticed many of the Black Forest Girls in the crowd giggling and pointing which caused Miho's temper to slightly boil.

"Stay focused my friend, it'll be over soon." Hana panted heavily from across the way.

Miho took note of this and tried to take her mind off of the audience's but she always had trouble doing so. After that was finished, the Kuromorimine girls were called up to take the Sensha- do flag of victory. While on stage, Maho looked outward for her sister but couldn't find her in the sea of heads.

"I really thought that Ooarai would win." said Orange Pekoe to Darjeeling.

"I thought so too my friend… I thought so too…"

"Well, they still fought long and hard and I really think they deserved to win." Kay said to Alisa and Naomi.

"But the Kuro's forces proved once more to be the victors." Alisa replied.

Naomi only answered back with a nod of approval.

"This can't be, after they destroyed that Maus how could they lose?" Katyusha squeaked aloud on top of Nonna's head.

"Unfortunately that's just is what happened." said Nonna's emotionless tone.

"But it's not fair though." Katyusha bursted out again almost falling off of Nonna's head.

Later that evening, everyone began to return to their destinations and head homeward bound. Maho, with victory flag in hand, walked next to her mother, with the rest of the Kuromorimine team behind them.

"Your performance today seemed to have lacked from my expectations." stated Shiho, "However you still have prevailed."

Maho remained quiet. Though she has indeed won the Championship and restored a prideful title to the Nishizumi Name something inside her kept saying, "Why couldn't it been me that lost instead of my sister?" She decided to ignore it and continue thinking about future thoughts.

The next day, word got out all around the school about the Ooarai Loss was true and that the school, with very little money left, will be closed in about a month or so. To prepare for the worse, Ooarai's school board has decided to shorten classes and start auctioning off the schools tanks as soon as they could to get money in. As the days go on, no serious progress was made.

"I'm surprise that none of our tanks have been sold yet." said Saori to her friends.

They were sitting on their Panzer IV looking over the latest recordings that they received from recent training.

"They're all probably waiting for a good price on the high value ones." Mako suggested.

"Oh no! They're no way that their taking MY panzer!" Yukari shouted while hugging the nozzle of the panzer.

"Oh don't feel so alone… we all feel the same." replied Hana.

"Beside's all of our tanks are going soon, not just ours." Miho added.

Then from across the way, the main hangar door opened and a large transport truck with a trailer came inside and parked near the Tiger P. The Automotive Team was told to get out of the cockpit that they were tinkering with and go with Ami Chouno and the men in the truck. The Tiger P was then transported away.

"Well… there goes the first of many tanks." Mako said in her usual depressing tone.

The others were stummed silent. They had no idea who was next.


	2. Chapter 2 - The Incoming Pay

**Author's Notes: I'm sorry that it took a long time to write this. I have been drowning in school work and I had to take long periods of time to complete that so I couldn't write often. You have all waited patiently so here's the next chapter.**

As time passed, more and more problems began to sprout up at Ooarai. The amount of funding towards the school has fallen to a dangerous rate, yet no one has yet to set in. Meanwhile in Kuromorimine, at the Nishizumi Household to be more precise, Maho was standing out in the front yard when Kikuyo watched up to her.

"What's the matter miss, you look troubled." addressed Kikuyo.

"Oh it's Miho. I can't seem to get her out of my head or something like that."

"Does it have to do with something about the fight a week ago?"

"Yes. I'm always wondering why it couldn't it have been my school that lost and not theirs?"

"I would expect…" she paused for a moment," Actually, never mind…"

"No what's wrong?"

Kikuyo swiftly shifted her head towards the direction of the hall.

"Mistress, is that you?" she asked.

Nobody responded.

"Huh? What was that about?" questioned Maho removing her German officer cap from her head.

"I just wouldn't expect to speak much about this while your mother is home, but since she appears to be absent, we can talk about it now if you want." said Kikuyo sighing.

Maho began to talk again, "I feel this way because though I've won the tournament, I have prevented Miho from perfecting the Nishizumi-style her own way."

"She may have not won the tournament, but I admit she has played well and she might have already found it?"

"Hmm… I see." Maho thought hesitantly for a moment.

"You don't always need a victory to be perfect at something. You just need to put all your might into it and see if you prevail." concluded Kikuyo.

Maho's lit up slightly after hearing this but she remained quiet. The Nishizumi Maid smiled as she patted Maho on the shoulder and began to walk out of the den. Before she exited into the hall she stopped briefly and turned her head.

"You also could call a rematch, just to let her gain back her self esteem." said Kikuyo, "Remember that one match back when you were younger."

Maho paused for a second to try and remember what she meant. As this happened, someone was at the door and Kikuyo went to answer it. A minute later, the voice of Shiho was in the hallway. Maho watched as the two woman walked by in the long hall. Figuring that the conversation between her and Kikuyo was finished, she left the den. Elsewhere in the house, Shiho began shifting fiercely though a few folders of documents in her home office, Kikuyo watched her from the open doubled doors.

"I have never seen you this excited before. What happened that caused you to get such thoughts?"

"Time and plenty of incoming new and old customs." said Shiho back.

"Sounds interesting." Kikuyo commented.

"Very and I think that this information is going to change the way people think and act, truly I think this will work."

"Maybe you should tell somebody this?" Kikuyo insisted while coming into the office.

"Correct you are and so I have come to the conclusion that I will write a book based on these ideas!"

The words that were spoken stopped Kikuyo in her tracks.

"A book ma' am?" asked Kikuyo.

"Indeed, it will be one about thoughts on a perfect world, in which Sensha-do and the Nishizumi-style would combine together to create one great sporting idea! Many will become so interested in it that I think that they would want to join in and support it as well. Combined, the Nishizumi School will become the greatest it has ever been." Shiho said as she began to settle herself down.

"It seems that you have a lot on your mind for the moment miss, should I leave you be?"

"No." responded Shiho, "I might need some more ideas and references, perhaps you could stay here and help me?"

"If I may miss." Kikuyo said, "Should I inform Maho about thi…"

"Negatory!" interrupted Shiho looking up from her desk, "I want to her to learn this later when it's published, and also it will take a long time for me to write it. No point in informing her about it too early."

"Yes ma' am." Kikuyo bowed.

AS she walked out of the office, she kept thinking to herself why Shiho would go out of her way and make a book

Early morning was beginning to dawn upon the mainland. Miho and her friends were walking to the Tankery Cake Cafe when they noticed another truck driving in the direction of the Ooarai ship.

"Looks like another one, what vehicle is going to be collected now?" Hana wondered.

"I don't know and I don't want to find out." said Mako trying to stay conscious.

"Oh come on now! Cheer up!" Saori bursted out happily.

Miho only smiled when she saw this.

"Beside's we're going to eat at our favorite place." said Yukari with joy.

"Oh yeah, I forgot." Mako muttered back, "I still can't believe you woke me up at 6:30 in the morning for this."

"Maybe the sugar might wake you up?" Miho said.

Mako didn't respond back, instead she only grumbled to herself while trying to not let her eyes seal shut again. When the five got to the front entrance, they noticed a couple of things. First, the restaurant was closed until 7:30 later that morning. Secondly, it appeared that the prices have sky-rocketed up higher (In yen of course, I might be wrong in my currency prices coming up so give me some slack).

The sample menu in the window showed that a small sized tank cake went from 1,000 Yen (10 Dollars?) to almost 2,500 Yen (25 Dollars?). The most expensive one went from 4,500 Yen (45 Dollars?) to a whopping 7,500 Yen (75 Dollars?). The girls were shocked at the prices that were shown in front of them.

"Whoa! What happened to the prices?" Saori suddenly shouted out.

"They have gone up in the amount." Mako said pointing to the menu, she herself was shocked too.

"I only have 1,500 Yen on me though." Miho said grabbing the only money she found in her handbag.

"Guess that means we don't have enough?" Hana suggested.

Her friends all nodded in sadness. Mako turned around and walked back home on her own. Her friends all watched in silence.

"Do you guys want to go over to my place?" Yukari asked.

"Sure." Miho smiled.

During the time, many other schools have begun to hear of the financial crisis that was occurring on Ooarai. Many of them began to think what might become of the school once their currency runs dry. In some of the richer schools, a speciazed funding program was put up to try and send money to support the dying system of Ooarai. The program was called the Ooarai Genkin Saikuru Keikaku and it was proven to help the financial disaster for both the students and staff. Out of the different schools that supported this, Saunders was the only ones who gave out.

With hope it helped to put a hold on the financial occurrences in Ooarai. Two months later, back aboard Kuromorimine, Shiho has finally finished writing her book. She decided to have it published earlier than she anticipated in order on getting more purchases faster. During this time, Kikuyo watched with fascination. She thought about telling Maho about her mother's new book but she decided to wait until Shiho told her about it herself.

A few days later, Maho was scanning through the shelves at a local bookstore when she noticed her mother's face on a book cover. Reaching for it she was revealed to this, the title read the words, "WATASHI NO TOSO-SHIHO NISHIZUMI.

Following the events of this and Ooarai will come something much more sinister…


	3. Chapter 3 - The Downward Spiral

**Author's Note: Just to notify everyone who's reading this. If you believe that you have found an answer to the plot line, keep it either to yourself or tell it to me through PM. I just don't want anyone making a story review that gives the main storyline away. If you want to review other things in the chapters other than that, you're free to do so.**

**P.S. For now on, any Japanese referenced words should be searched up how they are. For example, search up: How to say (BLANK) in English. Remember sometimes it might now make sense. It's my fault on my part.**

Aboard the Ooarai ship, Vice President Yuzu Koyama was shuffling through a few things in the old student council storage room, near the offices, when she found an unusual box in the very far end of the room. It was a long dusty cardboard box that had a label that dated back many years ago. It had never been opened before and was still taped down on the top.

In fascination, she brought the box out and showed it to Anzu and Momo who were looking over papers for the Tankery Team.

"Look what I found back in the storage room." Yuzu said placing the box on the ground.

"Could someone get me a box cutter please?" asked Momo bending down to look at the box.

When she received her tool, she sliced through the tape on top of the package and undid the flaps. Inside, the three saw an out of the ordinary emblem for Japan with the Ooarai wording over it. It was of a fierce black eagle in front of a large yellow shield. The eagle's beak and talons were both sharp and red and its left talon was holding a tank turret while the right was holding a tank shell.

"What do you think this came from?"

"It's obviously made for the school; it has the name on it." Anzu commented.

"Should we show this to everyone else?" Yuzu wondered.

All three looked at each other in question. Minutes later, Miho and her crew were brought into the room. They were first greeted by the giant emblem that Yuzu and Momo were holding up for show.

Yukari and Saori both blurted out," Wow! That's really creative, did you make that?"

"Surprisingly not. I just found it buried in the back room." said Yuzu pointing to the door with her thumb.

"It looks like a coat of arms?" Miho mentioned, "My old school has a traditional coat of arms themselves."

"That's because it is one." a random voice answered from in the hallway.

Turning around, the crew saw Erwin standing in the doorway. She stepped into the council office and Momo came forward, letting go of the fabric seal that both her and Yuzu were holding.

Momo addressed in a loud tone, "We are dealing with a very important piece of business here. Please leave!"

"My friend I'm only trying to help you." Erwin said back.

"You were not called in by us were you?" Momo argued in return.

"No."

"Oh please don't be so harsh on her; she's only trying to help." Hana added.

"No! Out right now! It's none of your business!" Momo said pushing Erwin out the door and before Erwin got the chance to say another word, Momo closed it behind her.

"That wasn't very nice." Saori said frowning and stomping her foot on the floor.

"Yeah she's part of the tankery team too." replied Yukari.

"That's not the point…"

Momo was interrupted by Anzu, "Now now my friends. Let's return back to the main reason why we called you here. We need you to send around the word that we're going to try and get permission for this to be our schools new icon."

"Yes and its best tha… What? Wait a minute that seems ridiculous, how can we possibly achieve that?" Yuzu suddenly asked.

"Oh we have ways." Anzu said sitting back in her chair and placing her feet on top of her desk.

All the other girls in the room became silent at the sound of this and there was a hush. Just as expected, the school mentioned the old Ooarai seal to the high officials and soon the symbol began to appear all around the school's grounds.

Months earlier, word had gotten out that some kind of conflict was occurring with Anzio. The schools tankery team was shaken in disarray in the events after the lost against Ooarai that resulted in them unable to show themselves at the finals between Kuromorimine and Ooarai. The schools Sensha-do team became unstable over the fact that they lost "Special Promises" after losing to Ooarai and were soon demanding a reform.

Their schools student council was voted out as "Unpromising" and "Not Reliable" for the well being of an Anzio Girls High student. The result made the whole student body (they had more students) split into two groups. One of the groups was under orders of a girl named Furanchesuka who was known to have high GPA and had an excellent work ethnic but was very shy and unambitious. The other group was under Anzio's current Sensha- do commander, Anchovy. She was the polar opposite of Furanchesuka in which that she was pushy and demanding.

When the time came, the school decided to call a vote to elect one of these groups for control of the student council. However, Anchovy decided to use a different tactic, try and scare the students into voting for her group instead of the other. She even went as far as letting her group members threatened the others into thinking that the student council under a free voting system was weak and will result in what Ooarai is facing at the moment. In the end, the tactic was successful and Anchovy and her group members were able to take the spots for student council.

"Now that we are in control" Anchovy said triumphantly, "Our strength in Sensha- do, our Schools Funding and our academics of it will become the greatest it's ever been!"

Over time, the girls from other schools began to think about their own student system and wondered if their lack of support caused reasons for the schools tankery elective to faultier. Meanwhile, Pravda began to have these similar thoughts. Among all the girls that were there, Katyusha saw this as her opportunity to rise up and show herself superior, even with her small size. With the success of this, she made large promises and performed "helpful" deeds for the community.

Another school system that also liked these idea's was a girls academy called Chi-Ha Tan, who decided to partake on this similar concept only to have the council system set up to be lead by a group of girls instead of just one and her supporters.

Reading about all the media that tells about the schools, Shiho thought this as her chance in improving how Kuromorimine could run better. She wished to see a few changes happen around the Black Forest Peak tankery team and the other students that don't take Sensha- do. Even though she was only Kuromorimine's Sensha- do Instructor, she thought about how she could advance up the line of the schools officials to become a high priority.

Maho, at this point of time, was already through a majority of her mother's book. She recognized the fact that her mother kept on using repeated phrase's or lines in her sentences. A few examples were the lines, "The most valuable traits of the Nishizumi School are victory and strength, advancing without hindrance of emotions and achieving victory without failure!" and, "Not a single inch of sympathy must be shown to the enemy! This is a sign of emotional weakness and must be avoided at all costs. You must prove to others that the Nishizumi-Style is superior overall."

All this time, Kikuyo was watching from the hall and thinking about what things might be in "Watashi No Toso" but she'll try to find out sooner or later. She was curious and wished that she could read it too.

Then one day… Disaster struck…

Saunders was in shock over the event that happened on the ship. The school has apparently lost money within itself and due to economic problems on the Japanese Mainland, had an investment problem bigger than they could handle. Yen had to be cut in order to save themselves, but the system was too slow to control the downpour. Most schools bought some if not most of their parts through Saunders and the effect of the collapse changed all that.

What seemed to be a controlled environment for money in Ooarai turned into a devastating outburst of problems. The school's student council couldn't handle the amount of problems that are being thrown at them through the adults. Parents began to get worried and even started to transform their children to other schools with more money that could handle the drop. The selling of tanks in Ooarai's Sensha- do team began to pick up again and even other school electives began to disappear from sight.

In the middle of the madness, Miho and her friends saw all the other teams' vehicles being rolled out of the garage one by one every few weeks. Just before summer, the Panzer IV was the only tank left in the whole school. The armored side plates that supported it against Black Forest we're far by long gone and sold, and the gun was sold as well. The engine, fuel tank and its other components were sold off as well; even the treads were sold for some kind of money too. The only thing left on the Panzer IV was the tracks and the body itself.

"It looks so different without all its parts." Miho commented.

"It looks like a dead tank body that you find in scrap yards." Yukari said.

"Well… we tried our best to win the tournament." Saori said hoping to cheer the others up in some way.

"I know we did." Miho sighed.

"I hear that parents are moving their kids out of the school." Mako said.

"Oh dear, I'm glad that we're all still together." Hana responded.

"If we ever get moved though, where would you go for next year?" suggested Saori to her friends.

"I don't know? Where would you go?"

"Me? I'd probably want to go to Saint Gloriana's. Their tankery program is not that bad." Saori said.

"I like the sound of B.C. Free; they sound like a pretty equal school." Hana added, "How about you Mak…'

"Don't ask me, I have no idea where I'm going." Mako groaned.

"Alright then…how about you Yukari?" Hana asked again.

"I have my eyes on a couple. I like Saunders the most. My second choice would have been Koala Forest, the one based off Australia." she smiled.

"How about you Miho? Do you have any idea of where you want to go?"

"Uhh…I'm not quite sure just yet." she replied.

In her mind, she already had an idea of where she would go but she was so scared to admit it. The Iron Cross emblem seemed to glow in her brain and the name of the home that she originally departed from in the first place seemed to come back to her again. Miho's face became downcast, her friends noticed this.

"What's the matter? You look a little pale." Hana worried.

"Oh… I'm just a bit tired, that's all." Miho said with a small smile.

There was a long pause before Miho's eye flashed opened.

"I'm going to Kuromorimine!" Miho suddenly blurted out.

Her friends all turned their heads in shock and let out of a loud gasp.

A few days later, Miho decided to contact her family back home and see if her return to the household was necessary or not. She was fearful about the response and wondered if it was even a good idea in the first place. She decided though that it was worth the try. She wrote a letter to the Nishizumi Manor asking for acceptance back into the family and Miho also gave reasons how she could help the home. All she had to do now was wait for a response in return.

When the letter got to the Nishizumi Residence, Kikuyo received it first while walking around the garden. She brought in the letter and read it to herself. When Maho finally got home from school, Kikuyo was at the door to greet her.

"Welcome home Lady Maho, how was your day?" she greeted happily.

"It was fine, thank you." she smiled.

"I received a letter today from your sister." Kikuyo said to Maho.

An expression of interest came across Maho's face.

"May I read it?" she asked.

"Sure, let me go get it for you." Kikuyo answered.

While the Nishizumi Household Maid went to collect the paper, Maho waited patiently in the hall. Then the front door opened up behind Maho's back and Shiho Nishizumi stepped into the house.

"Mother, your home early?"

"Yes I am. I decided to end work early today and…"

Both of them saw Kikuyo walk into the room with the letter from Miho in her hand.

"Madam, your home early." She said.

"Yes… I am." Shiho repeated in, "Odd… anyways, what is this you're handing me?" Shiho asked receiving the letter from Kikuyo's hand.

"It's a letter from Miho san, Madam."

Shiho immediately tightened the grasp on the letter. She read it to herself for a while and then folded it up.

"Miho…wishes to return home, eh? Hmp, I see."

"Mother?"

"I shall make my decision tonight, I must not be disturbed for an hour." she ordered sternly.

She walked into another room and closed the door. Both Kikuyo and Maho were silent for a moment before walking away together back outside. Just like she said, Shiho was out an hour later. She had a piece of paper in her hand with an envelope as well and then she placed the paper inside it and licked the envelope shut.

She looked in the other room and saw nobody in the den. She went outside and saw Kikuyo standing alone at the front gate. Hearing footsteps behind her, Kikuyo turned around to see Shiho walking up to her with an envelope in hand.

"Please take this to the postal." she ordered.

"Yes madam." she replied back while walking to the car and pulling it out.

"Do you know where Maho is?" Shiho called over the engine.

"In her room I think?"

The two departed from each other. With only a few days of school left before the summer, Miho got the letter in the mail. When she noticed that the letter came from the Nishizumi Household, she got goose bumps on her skin. Nearing the end of her message, she slowly got tears in her eyes.

"My mother…says I've commited… heresy?" she finished the last lines, "She also has disowned me?" her voice choked up as she dropped the paper, "Where am I going to live now?!" she wept aloud.

Later that evening, she went alone into the schools bath chamber, wearing an Anglerfish suit she managed to sneak out. Putting it on, she began to cry to herself.

Overwhelmed she said, "So, this is me. There's no home for me… I have no money, no job and no protection…"

There was a long silence before she opened her eyes.

"Who am I?" she quietly asked to herself.

Stepping forward, she accidently slipped on the wet ground and fell face first onto the concrete bath edge. Her head hit the side and split. She emitted a small scream as her body rolled into the water and floated lifelessly on the surface. The water around her began to turn red as the lights above powered off automatically. Silence filled the chambers air as Miho was no more.

The next day, a few of the students went in to the room for a morning bath when they noticed something weird floating in the water. Screams sounded seconds later as the girls ran out in terror. Everyone was awoken by the sound for it was still early in the morning. Staff and other students went to investigate the scene. Miho's friends were among the many.

When the day came, Miho's funeral was prepared. Everyone watched as a beautiful coffin was set into a grave. Among the many people were Miho's friend and their parents. Shiho watched silently without speaking while everyone else was in tears. When summer arrived, all the inhabitants were evacuated off the School Vessel and the Ooarai ship was sold a few weeks later.

This event will pave the path to what comes next.


	4. Chapter 4 - New Year, New Order

Only days after Miho's funeral, the whole Nishizumi Household was silent. What was left of the family, including Maho, Shiho and Kikuyo were affected entirely by the death of the youngest daughter. Shiho was seen less often and mostly sat alone in her study, doing things that the other two were unaware of. Most often, Kikuyo was cleaning around the mansion while Maho was busy attending her school work.

When the Kuromorimine school vessel was anchored for the summer and when she got the opportunity to, Maho went out of the household to wander around her home city of Kumamoto, seeing some of the sites that she hasn't visited yet or ones that she already had.

On one of those days, she would occasionally see Erika. The two would often rest and talk about the events that are happening in not only their lives, but also about the lives of others.

"Your sister's death seemed so sudden; do you know what caused it?" Erika asked curiously.

"From what my mother has told me, she was told that it was an accidental death." said Maho thinking back to the past.

"You don't suppose that she… possibly…" Erika hesitated to talk on.

"What?" asked Maho turning her head to her Vice Captain.

"You don't suppose that she wanted to die on purpose, do you?"

Maho didn't answer to the response. She didn't want to think about the topic regarding her deceased sister any further.

"Kommandant?" Erika asked.

"Please forgive me." Maho shook herself from her daze," I dozed off for a second."

The two looked at each other for a moment.

"I'm sorry, I have to go." Maho said beginning to walk away.

In Erika's mind, a slew of thoughts began to race around, "Is she really that depressed about her sister? No, don't think that way. She caused your school trouble that year before and caused you to lose at those games."

Her thoughts turned from question to anger, "Yeah, besides, she decided to abandon the family way of her's for a life of freedom. She brought that Ooarai school of hers down to its knee's and caused it to lose as well! It's all her fault not my Kommandants!"

She continued to think as she walked away. When Maho returned home, she immediately knew something was wrong. Kikuyo was standing firmly in the next room with a stern look on her face. A second later, Maho saw her mother walk quickly by with a tall glass bottle in her hand that had the appearance of a hard liquor. Shiho didn't even acknowledge that her daughter has came home, she only walked into her dark study and closed the doors. Maho stood frozen at the door for a moment before walking to her room, wanting to ignore any sort of business that she didn't need to be in.

Later, Maho came out of her room. The time was around 5:30 PM and the house was all locked up for the night. Wandering into the den, she saw Kikuyo sitting alone, deeply thinking about something. She looked up and noticed Maho looking at her from the hall.

"Good evening, Lady Maho. How are you feeling?" Kikuyo greeted, "I have some news to tell you."

"I'm fine thank you." she replied, "Do you know why mother looked more strict than usual today?"

"Apparently, she's been under a ton of stress since poor Miho's departure."

"Aren't we all." Maho whispered to herself, "Well, I noticed that she had a bottle of..."

"Ah, yes, you've noticed. I suppose that she was drinking for a reason but I don't know why." said Kikuyo.

"Is there anything else that you have on your mind?" Maho asked.

"Yes, your mother and I have talked a little bit about work and she told me that she might get a possible promotion."

"A promotion, for what?"

"She didn't tell me all the major details but she mentioned her movement upward on the educational branch."

"Really?" Maho said in surprise, "I never heard her tell me that yet."

"I guess this is a head's up for you then, for what's coming up next?"

"I suppose it is." confirmed Maho, "Looks like we'll have to wait and see."

"Now I think it's time that I go check on your mother." Kikuyo said getting up from her chair, "She hasn't come out of her study for a while now and I better check on her."

Maho waited for a while until Kikuyo returned. When she did, Maho asked how Shiho was.

"She's sleeping right now, we best not disturb her."

"Alright." Maho nodded.

The new school year began much earlier that the previous year, but then again, summer started early three month's ago. As usual, most schools looked forward for another year of teaching new students, but all the schools were anxious to welcome any new students from Ooarai. Unlike what Anglerfish Team had predicted in the past, the choice of school was not given to them to decide. Instead, they we're chosen at random, which upset many rather than pleased.

Over the summer, the idea's of Shiho's book had spread like wildfire. Though many of the schools' Sensha- do programs support the idea's of Shiho, many others denied it, wanted to keep the old ways of Sensha- do the same. One of the sections that displeased many is the line that she states, "The current system of tankery has been flawed numerous times by many officials. If the Nishizumi-Style is to be perfected as a standard for all those participating in Sensha- do, it must become clear that the current form of conflict in the system must be dissolved. I propose all those who favor these thoughts to encourage others to follow them as well and to spread this to those who discard this information..."

Through legal matters, Shiho was successfully promoted and was ranked up higher within the Kuromorimine school system. However, she felt that she needed to rank higher. Within the educational system, the current head-mistress of the school had steeped down from her position unexpectedly and now the district was hiring for a new head-mistress. Seeing this as her opportunity, she applied along with many other women with her high level of educational performance and with her high teaching credentials.

When the final results were reveled, she was very certain that she would win. She did, and her first order of business was to change Kuromorimine.

"Kikuyo." she called for the Nishizumi maid one afternoon, "Do you have any sort of degree in education?"

She thought for a moment.

"Yes, I do." Kikuyo answered.

"I need you to offer for an occupation that I'll support you in."

Kikuyo's face brightened. She never had a second job before but she expected it to help her when harder times come. She agreed and Shiho told her how to succeeded in the interview.

Shiho began to put rallies and assembles on every Friday so that she could communicate with the students, besides through intercom. At the same time, Kikuyo offered for the job on Kuromorimine's fundraising company and thanks from the charismatic support from Shiho, she was given the position.

Kikuyo's wardrobe changed from simply maid robes to maid robes, professional business suits and expensive clothing, bought by money that was given to her by Shiho and the school board. When conflicts arise on campus, she was able to put an end to it thought clever thinking and persuasive speech.

"Pravda puts on a better school march than we do." a student complained to Kikuyo one day, "I feel like we're not as strong nor as tough as they are."

"Never underestimate the power of this school." Kikuyo responded,"Pravda is simply wanting to bring down your enthusiasm and self-esteem. Remember, just like Mrs. Nishizumi says, this is the work of the enemy and you must show the enemy that your better than they are in all ways possible."

"Your right! I will go out and inform my friends about this!" she exclaimed triumphantly.

Kikuyo smiled as the girl walked off, at the same time, she noticed Maho walking with Erika behind her and she turned to talk with them.

"Ms. Kikuyo, you look good today." Maho said in a tone that didn't let Erika know that she's their family maid. She also gestured to Kikuyo's black suit and red tie with a Black Forest Peak emblem on the tie.

"Thank you."

"Very professional and showing school pride, something I favor." Erika commented.

"You girls looking forward for this years Sensha- do tournament, it's starting in two weeks?" Kikuyo asked.

"Most certainly, our vehicles this year have been improved since their performance last year." added Erika.

"Yes and we hope that we can start a new winning streak for our school." said Maho.

"With the kind of force's that you have, I'm positive that you'll dominate all in the years to come." Kikuyo said, trying to raise her voice to a level of excitement.

The bell rang for the next period to begin. The three went their separate ways. Meanwhile, in Shiho's office, the blinds at the window and on her door were shut, except for a little bit of light shining from a crack in the window blinds. She was sitting at her desk while a good ten to twelve other girls stood in front of her.

"Girls, I know that your group is meek at the moment." Shiho's tone was stern if not a little grim sounded, "I assure you that with the new students coming in this year that you'll get more support."

"The manner of law and obedience must be kept in order to show how our campus is superior to others." a random girl in the group said.

"Indeed, now who is in charge of this group?"

"I am ma' am." another shorter girl said stepping forward to the front of the desk.

"Are you new to our school?" asked Shiho.

The girl nodded, "I have had experience with this in the past and I can handle most of the student conflicts that come my way."

"Sounds true according to your record here."

"Very well, you girls have your daily orders, go forth and enforce law and order for our school, in the name of Nishizumi." Shiho instructed.

The girl, who was answering Shiho's questions, turned around and faced all the other girls behind her.

"Alright, you heard her, lets go."

The light of the sunshine coming thought the opening blinds revealed the face of Midoriku 'Sodoko' Sono, the past member of Ooarai's Public Morals Committee, now the leader of the new Kuomorimine Civil Administrative Forces (KCAF).

* * *

**Author's Note: Just a remind, if you think you have discovered the events of the ****story line, either keep it to** **yourself**** till the Fanfic is finished or tell me through PM.**

**P.S. I just now learned about the Horizontal Line Divider.** **I feel so foolish...**


	5. Chapter 5 - Rising Conflicts

**Author's Note: Now, I know a few of you are wondering why this is before the story. Well, I'm only writing this ahead of time to inform you all about the senior characters in the story. After reading a few other Fanfic's, I've noticed that they've used senior students in their stories, that takes place** **after the anime, so I figured that no harm will come to me if I used them in my story, that takes place a year after the anime/manga itself.**

**Also, I made this chapter long so I could hold you guys over for a while, I've got a ton of school projects coming up and I might not be able to get another chapter out for a while, but I'll try my best to write up the next chapter as soon as I can.**

* * *

With only a week left before the Sensha- do tournament begins, everyone has been preparing for the big event. A handful of schools have been observing each others progress in the purchasing of vehicles, to decide whether or not to purchase more themselves. As always, Saunders remained the school to have the highest vehicle count than all the other schools, while Kuromorimine and Pravda followed close behind.

There was conflict rising up from different schools also, many cases of this are just to show how more powerful one was to the other. One example was coming from Chi-Ha Tan, who decided that picking a fight with another school outside its general sailing area was a good idea. Then went as far as getting aboard it and causing trouble with the students and locals.

Aboard Kuromorimine, security was beginning to tighten. Shiho's goal of having a one grouped student council was finally complete and now she led many students to follow her goals for a perfect school system under the name of Nishizumi. The students in the council started to spread out and sent voluntury's outside the school to tell about the idea's of the school's spirit to the rest of the ship's population. Money was coming in for the schools tankery team and for all the other electives that were found on campus.

The number of new members of the KCAF have multiplied from 12 to almost 30 or more. They walked slowly and cautiously around the campus, sometime in groups other times solo, with their eyes scanning the school grounds with suspicion. Their school uniforms were covered by jacket's and they all had strange armbands that had Kuromorimine Civil Administrative Forces in Japanese writing on it with a tiny Black Forest Cross on the top piece of the armband.

When a situation started up between a KCAF Agent and another student, it would start out and end usually with a low tone of voice. Sometimes though, the argument would turn into a scene where the KCAF Agent would start to yell at that student, resulting in the oppressor changing their mind. It made many students think twice when getting into a situation with a girl student of the KCAF.

On Friday before het weekend, Shiho called all the students for an assembly. Outside the door to the auditorium, Kikuyo was seen putting up posters of Shiho with the silhouettes of students cheering in the background. On the posters, written in Japanese said, RULE AND CONQUER! Maho and Erika sat in the front row with the rest of the Sensha- do team.

"I can't wait to hear what Mrs. Nishizumi has to say to us." Erika said to her friend.

"Yes, me too." Maho said back.

Once everyone was inside and settled in, the doors to the hallways were closed by a teacher and a KCAF student standing at that door. The assembly began with the schools marching band playing the school's anthem, only the anthem was different that the older one. After this, Shiho came forth on stage towards her audience and the whole chamber filled with excitement. After everyone has calmed down and the auditorium has grown quiet, Shiho Nishizumi began:

"Students, I feel that it is my duty to pass on the wisdom that I've acquired over my years of teaching. I must ask all of you a question."

She turned her attention to a large group of students in the front rows pointed to them.

"You. Kuromorimine's Sensha- do elective. Do you all know whats coming up soon?" she asked.

One of the girls in the crowd was given a microphone to respond back to Shiho's question.

"This years tankery tournament." the girl said in return.

"Correct! It is you girls, that will deliver us to victory! It is you girls that will show true strength! Finally, it is you girls, who will spread word to the other schools and show an example to others that Sensha- do and a teaching environment under the Nishizumi name is best."

A round of clapping and cheering filled the auditorium, and when Shiho raised her hand up, the room completely grew silent again. She took a few steps off the stage and closer to the audience. She was accommodated by a KCAF girl at side side.

"Now, many of you have probably been to our school library since the year started, and I'm sure your teachers have made you borrow plenty of books from there. Well, even before I became Head Mistress, you've all probably seen and maybe even rented this new book, that's been seen on the front window shelf for sometime." she raised her book above her head.

"A summary of this book, tells about the future for not only our own school, but also for the other schools that stand in the way of our superiority. There's something that this school has that all the other ones don't and that's the knowledge that we are the most elite of all tankery teams and with a little more effort, we can become the most highest in all of Japan. Many decades ago, Kuromorimine has been the start of a long line of acceleration young minds that have served a great purpose towards our country. To this very day, that line is still moving in all academics from Home Economic's to Cooking to Tankery and even to all General Educational Courses. As you can see, we are surely not to fail, with the a little more support and plenty of fresh minds ready to learn, we as a school can achieve many wondrous things!"

"Rule and conquer, students! Rule and conquer!"

The audience began to cheer and applaud again. Then it grew quiet again when Shiho raised up her hand and returned to her point on stage.

"However, with a dream of become the most powerful and most highest of all the other high school's, comes an antagonist. A threat that will try and stall our cause, to allow the others to gain the lead. It has taken me about two years of studying and many more years of examining to understand the interference of our duty."

"It can be summarized into two word's: Slackers and the Feeble Minded!"

All the girls in the vast audience began to whisper to one another.

"The Slackers and the Feeble Minded are the problem. When these people are removed from the picture, only then we can accomplish our goals for a..."

Maho, who was in the very front row of the audience raised her hand.

"Yes, student, what is your question?" Shiho asked.

Maho responded in a worried tone, "What do you mean "Feeble Minded"? I don't really understand what you mean?"

"Pardon me for not making myself clear. Yes, this girl here asked a very good question, and that is what are the Feeble Minded? The answer is very simple: Those you would rather think that teaching a softer more feebler way is better than being taught with authority and disciple. This also goes to anyone who's had learning difficulties in the past."

A shiver shot down Maho's spine at the sound of the response. She remembered what she told Miho in the past about finding her own Sensha- do and also remembering Miho's stress after losing to Pravda that match. Maho thought that in Miho's old room back at the Nishizumi Manor, she saw a bandaged teddy bear in a dark corner, but thought nothing of it.

After hearing her mother's speech, she started to wonder again about her younger sister.

"Also students, here's something that we must all remember. Me and some of the other teachers will begin, starting tomorrow morning, issuing out the new rule sheet to the classrooms. It will explain all further rules regarding school hours for now on. Now remember my dear students, work your hardest and show your best and I can assure you that we will trample all those who oppose us!"

"Rule and conquer, students! Rule and conquer!"

After another round of loud applause and chanting of the rule and conquer slogan, Shiho exited off stage as the marching band played the new school anthem once more.

When the students were let back to their classes, Maho lost Erika in the crowd of people. When she wasn't looking, Maho accidentally crashed into another girl, both of them fell to the ground. Looking up to see who she ran into, Maho was surprised when she noticed the familiar face of Yukari staring back at her.

"Uhhh...hi..." Yukari addressed nervously.

"Hello" Maho said back.

"I'm really sorry, I didn't mean to run into you."

"No, it's fine." Maho replied.

An awkward silence fell upon them as the area began to clear up.

Erika came forward,"Maho there you are, I lost to you in the..."

Erika grew quiet when she noticed Yukari staring back at her.

"What is she doing here?" she frowned, pointing to Yukari.

Yukari slowly began to back up from the two but Maho came forward.

"Leave her alone, what has she done to you?"

Erika opened her mouth to say something but then decided not to.

"Should we talk later?" asked Yukari in a serious tone.

"Of course."

The three then departed from each other in a hurry, as the final bell was about to ring. Later that day, the two girls met at Maho's dorm to continue their discussion.

"So, I never really knew who you really are. It's a pleasure to meet you though." Yukari smiled holding out her hand.

"Sure." Maho agreed, shaking Yukari's hand.

"I've never thought that your ship was this big. I imagined the same as all the other schools."

"Well, we have a lot of money as a school, and our community is very helpful. I can expect that we get plenty of support from outside the school." said Maho.

"Back from where we come from, our school relied only on the community once our currency dropped."

"Why are you attending our school now? Aren't you supposed to be at Ooarai?" Maho asked curiously.

"I would but...the school is closed now."

Maho suddenely froze and looked up at Yukari in confusion.

"Closed? You mean like, closed closed?"

Yukari nodded her head to the question.

"I had no idea...when did this happen?"

Yukari began to explain the events, "A few months earlier, just before the start of summer vacation, many students were being transferred to other schools. I was among one of the very few to not be transferred before that school year ended. Miho has been taking it tough, till the point when she..."

Yukari's voice choked up as her eyes slowly began to tear up. Maho caught sight of this and sighed.

"Yeah, I know what happen's next." she said sadly.

"You don't suppose that...you did...something to cause this?" Yukari cried.

"My family decided this. My mother received a letter from Miho in the mail, and I wasn't able to see it."

Yukari's face became downcast as she wiped her eyes.

"What do you think was in that letter?" she asked.

Maho grew silent. Then, after a minute, she spoke again.

"I have no idea, but I'm bound to learn more as I go." she concluded confidently.

That Monday morning, news broke out all board Kuromorimine. Many people were talking about the events that Black Forest Peak had done and what was the aftermath of it all. Apperently, Blue Divison Girls High School has gotten into a conflict similar to the one that occured on Anzio, but with more eye-opening events that happened. The two groups that were running for student council got into a feud that caused them to take sides with the schools tankery team.

The school, with only approximately five days left before the tournaments begin and with a conflict stirring up between the student council and Sensha- do, Blue Division cried out for support. Kuromorimine answered that call.

With the strong urge to test out their new tanks, Black Forest Peak was sent out to take care of the situation. Over the weekend, they've managed to support the group of Blue Division that wanted to support the idea's of Shiho's one party student council. With the victory after that, the supporting group took power.

Students on Kuromorimine, began to question all the events that occurred and wondered if what was being told to them was true. All questions were bounced directly at Shiho, but Kikuyo stepped in and changed all the questions into answers.

"Students, students, please let me explain." Kikuyo pleaded in front of a crowd of girls, "What we did over the weekend at Blue Division was to stop conflict that could arise later on in the school year."

"We heard that our Sensha- do destroyed a couple of their vehicles on purpose."

"Yeah! I also heard that we hurt a few students!"

"Girls, let me explain!" Kikuyo's tone of voice became stern, which caused everyone around her to back away a few steps.

"First of all, I would expect a much more mature behavior from you all and second, we did not harm anyone in this conflict. We had to stop them, but we did it in a way that allowed us to physical stop them without harming them. If we didn't, the problem would still be going."

The girls began to mumble to one another.

Kikuyo raised an eyebrow and spoke again, "Surely now, you don't want me to get Mrs. Nishizumi into this conversation, do you?"

All the students suddenely started to disagree with the response they were given. It had become quite clear that nobody wanted to get Shiho into their conversation. he girls then began to all walk away without another word. Meanwhile, in Shiho's office, Maho stood at the front of her mothers desk. She had been called up to the front office, but she had no idea why.

"I wish to speak to you about this first before the other students."

"And what is that, mother?"

"We have been searching around for more to add to our school and I've got my eye sights on something." said Shiho.

"I don't understand, mother?" Maho replied.

"You see, we've just bought another school vessel to add to our own, to create a society much bigger than before."

"Where is this school vessel located?" Maho asked.

"That I must keep private, but what I can tell you is that it used to belong to another school in the past, but now it's under our possesion."

Maho didn't say a word.

"Pretty soon, I will be going out to a meeting and I will not see you tonight. Kikuyo will watch over you till I return early tomorrow morning. You will not be awake yet when I do, is that understood?"

"Yes, mother."

That eveing, Shiho traveled to another end of the Kuromorimine vessel to meet up with the head of Saint Gloriana's Girls Academy and the head of Maginot Girls High to discuss the upcoming events for another unexpected purchase by Kuromorimine. Many men and women came to view and attend the conference. The deal was a piece of land aboard another school vessel that Shiho and her supporters wished to own. It violated a contract that many of the school leaders favored, but they were not willing to give Kuromorimine trouble by telling them so.

"What is the primary purpose for your obtainment of this portion of land, and once you have obtained it, what do you intend to use it for." asked the Head-Mistress of Maginot.

"A large portion if not the complete section of land I wish to obtain, approve the motives and goals of the Kuromorimine council." Shiho stated.

"We've heard the similar answer come from them as well, if it is that you two wish, then we need to lay out a few standards first." added the Saint Gloriana Head-Mistress.

Shiho remained silent as they explained the deal. When the layout was finished, Shiho agreed to follow the rules that were given.

"I will ensure you, that I'm doing this for the better and that I have no desire to obtain anymore unnessesary property."

In the end, the women agreed to the deal and Shiho was promoised the last piece of property for Kuromorimine. On board, the Head-Mistress of Saint Gloriana gave a speech to all of the students about the events that happened at the meeting. The girls all seemed to agree and confirmed to themselves that the events of the meeting occurred.

Some students, on the other hand, thought that the conflict was not yet over, one of them was Darjeeling. She felt from the beginning of the deal to the end that something was bound to go wrong and thought that sometime soon that conflict will spark up again between the schools.

"I find it hard to believe that our "Friends" will not act again shortely." Darjeeling said to her close assistant, Orange Pekoe.

"It seems that their getting along well with each other, though. On television, they look like their being serious about their decisions, don't you think?"

"Oh, I wouldn't say that just yet. I can guarentee you, my friend, that there will be another conflict with them very shortly."

Darjeeling's prediction was spot on, because the very next evening and into the night, a large group of Kuromorimine Civil Administrative Force Agents went aboard the nearby ship that contained the new land agreement and caused havoc. The KCAF went running through the streets and demanded that the girls on board follow Kuromorimines rules or else, they would be "contained". Those who disagreed, were taken away or worse, were beaten up behind cover. The KCAF worked together with a few of Black Forest Peaks Tanks to startle those who resisted. The one's who were catigorized as Slackers and Feeble Minded were taken to Kuoromorimine without question.

By the time the authorities got there, all the KCAF Agents and the small band of Sensha- do girls had fled back to their home ship, where they were untouched from below. However, the authorities were stopped by the wall that divided the school originally on the vessel apart from the piece that was purchased. They were not allowed to enter.

The reports spread, but most didn't respond to the act. A few agencies call out on Shiho's actions while some called it a mishap. She wanted to block all news about it to Maho, for she didn't think that her daughter should know what she's really happened.

The tankery rules for this year's tournament were different. It surprised schools when it was informed that they could choose side's with different tankery teams. Plus, when a team list, they would lose turns to fight aganist other schools, and whoever lost all their turns was eliminated.

A huge number of schools, including Saint Gloriana's, Maginot, Koala Forest and a few others joined together and started: The Panzerfahren Peacekeepers . On the opposite spectrum, Kuromorimine, Anzio, Chi-Ha Tan and Yogurt banded together and then started: The Sisterhood of Iron Will. For the first part of the selecting, Saunders and Pravda were undecicive and couldn't decide on who to team up with.

Katyusha was urged to join up with the most powerful, in order to help themselves to an easy victory.

"As long as I win my share in the ending, I'll choose whoever has the strongest army!" Katyusha said triumphantly.

"If I may insist." Nonna said to her leader, "Rather than choose who's stronger now, we should choose who's more effective."

"Nonna! Let me choose who I want! You can't tell me what to do!" Katyusha scolded in an outburst of irritation.

Nonna simply sighed, "Yes, my Commander."

Soon afterwords, Pravda made an agreement to support The Sisterhood of Iron Will. Though the two schools dislike each other, they decided to forget old ways and start anew.

The first target for The Sisterhood of Iron Will was Bonple Girls High School, which looked like a very easy target. The Panzerfahren Peacekeepers didn't approve that their oppenents were ganging up on smaller schools, but thought that the low tank count in the start of the tournament would give either side a sporting chance.

That Friday, on the first of September, Kuromorimine and Pravda prepared to fight Bonple Girls High, in the first of many battles to come. When the shot rang in the air to begin, both sides charged.

The new Sensha- do year has only just begun...


	6. Chapter 6 - Tough Decisions

It happened so fast, that the thoughts of the crew members inside of Bonples vehicles didn't know what hit them. Pravda's brute force was ruthless and strong against Bonples vehicles, while Kuromorimine's tactics were unpredictable and devastating against their enemies' fortifications. Within less than a half and hour, the battlefield was littered with craters from shell blasts and the city portion of the field was covered in smoke. With no help from any of the other girl schools, Bonple was eliminated. This went on again and again, chance after chance lost to the point when all their opportunities have been depleted. At the end of the month or so, just before their last game, Bonples forces refused to fight the other two dominating teams and they were eliminated from the competition.

"I tell you, Kommandant." Erika said boastfully, "If it wasn't for those city ruin that's they were hiding in, they wouldn't have gotten a single tank of ours."

"Well, we do have more firepower than usual." Yukari added from her teams Jagdpanzer IV.

"True." Maho said silently.

"Looks like your not that bad as a commander." Erika said to Yukari.

She didn't answer in return, she did not know what sort of tone to reply back with. Erika shrugged her shoulders.

"Who do think will be our next opponent?" asked one of Maho's team members.

"I really don't know." she said.

"I think that we should choose who want to fight next, instead of it being chosen for us by default."

"Yes, that seems okay." Yukari added on, "It also seems to be easier for us to score up the board, if we eliminate the other lesser schools first, don't you agree Erika-san?"

Erika nodded in agreement.

Maho began to wonder why the two girls were agreeing with each others opinions now than before. It seemed like some unusual bond was growing between them that Maho was quite leery of. When Black Forest Peak returned to the ship, they were flooded with cheering from all who were aboard. Not only were they applauded for their victory, but were also given' awards for their success in showing how the Nishizumi-Style dominates over all the others.

In the downtime that they had on the weekends, Maho and Yukari began to spend more time together, teaching each other news idea's and interests. Every once and a while, Erika would visit the three and see how they've been doing.

As time went on, the schools began to be chosen to fight other schools. Many hard decisions were made as to who and what will shift the tide of victory between The Panzerfahren Peacekeepers and The Sisterhood of Iron Will in the months to come. In the next round of the Sensha- do tournament, Pravda was chosen to fight against Jatkosota, but Pravda decided to hold off for a while. The reason was unknown, but the judges accepted the offer for only that one time, eventually they had to confront Jatkosota.

On the other hand though, Kuromorimine had different plans. Shiho wanted to make a personal request to fight a certain set of schools that she finds to be a threat to her ways. At the choosing's, after the intercom systems have finished announcing the schools teams, another voice came over the line:

"Due to some changes and rearrangements, Kuromorimine's Black Forest Peak Tankery Team will now be facing off against Viking Marine. Afterwards, they will battle Maginot in the next few rounds for The Sisterhood of Iron Will."

The thought of having to face off against Black Forest Peak once more began to worry the Maginot tankery team. After seeing their enemies pummel Viking Marines' team, members of the group began to have nervous breakdowns. Plus, despite the fact that there wasn't a neighboring school that wanted to support them, they feared that they too would be annihilated by Kuromorimine.

Thankfully though, another school in The Panzerfahren Peacekeepers joined in to help...

At Saint Glorianas Girls Academy, the schools tankery team decided to help their ally in the fight against Kuromorimine. Darjeeling herself even made a special promise to fight alongside with them in the battle. With the new vehicles that they had in purchased, Saint Glorianas was ready for a battle to remember. In the garage, Orange Pekoe and Assam walked up to their commander, Darjeeling, who was viewing over a vehicle under a large tarp, it's true appearance hidden from view.

"Everything is loaded and ready for tomorrow." saluted Orange Pekoe.

"Good." Darjeeling responded back, she didn't turn around to face her companions.

"What are you looking at, Commander?" Assam asked.

"Oh, this thing? Why this thing here, is the solution to our problems with Black Forest's heavy tanks."

"May we see this vehicle?" Orange Pekoe said curiously.

"No, not until a later date in time. I wish to surprise everyone." the blond haired leader addressed.

"I understand, shall we get ourselves another cup of tea?"

"Indeed, let us go." Darjeeling said, turning around to the other two.

Tomorrow was when the two factions would go for the standoff. The vehicle number count rose from ten to fifteen, both teams began to bring out their deadlier tools. Thought Maginot had only a few good vehicles, Saint Glorianas tank count helped boost up The Panzerfahren Peacekeepers' army. Before the start, Maho and Erika were viewing over the maps that their school had got two days earlier.

"Hmm... I wonder if we should attack straight on?" Erika wondered.

"We can't." Maho said, "Their forces are guarding this long line up and down the center. If we charge like that, they would simply shoot at us straight down the middle."

"What do we do? Do we just hide way back and fire from afar?" Erika asked.

"Possibly, but I have other plans to..."

Suddenly, Yukari bursted into the room.

"Hey guys, I've have an idea!" she exclaimed joyfully.

The other two girls looked at each other with an expression of confusion on their faces. They weren't ready on having a whole another plan fly right at them, but at the same time, they weren't ready for the cheery mood of Yukari to flood into the room with them.

Maho smiled and made a gesturing motion with her hand, "Interesting, please tell us."

Yukari placed a piece of paper on the big table in the room.

"Alright! You see this piece of land here?" she asked with a finger on the woodland area, "We can possibly take this route around the line and attack at them by surprise!"

"Suppose they turn around though, then what?" Erika folded her arms.

"That's the trick, we are going to sneak around them using stealth and then position ourselves in the nearby bush area. Once this happens, we choose our targets wisely and take them out one by one right there and then."

"Indeed, we do have our large canons. Perhaps we could use part of that strategy?"

Erika raised an eyebrow, "Why not all of it, Kommandant?"

Maho pointed to the map.

"Our friend here is correct about the woodland flank method, but there's a large piece of open grassland here that can blow our opportunity. The angle of the Panzerfahren Peacekeepers' positioning could reveal that sector."

"How about a distraction?" Erika offered, "I figured that you might know how to make that smoke screen you used on us at last years finals."

"I know how to make a portion of it. Maybe we can work together?"

"Sure." Maho agreed.

There was a noise at the door. Turning around, the three saw Kikuyo accommodated by two KCAF girls.

"Yes, Ms. Kikuyo?" Erika asked.

"Mrs. Nishizumi wanted me to ask you girls if the battlefield planning is ready to be briefed on or not?"

"We're just about finished." Maho said.

"Alright, I'll inform her on your plans." Kikuyo returned.

"Are you looking forward to tomorrows games, Ms. Kikuyo?" Yukari added.

"Oh yes, I am. I'm going around the school and encouraging the girls. I'm looking forward to watching you three lead the charge tomorrow." she said happily.

She then turned and left the room with the KCAF's trailing beside her. From behind her, Erwin walked into the room.

"Erwin-Chan you come to our school now!?" Yukari gasped cheerfully.

"Yes and after overhearing your plans, I propose a tactic that will prevail above our enemies'."

In the early morning, when the sun was not on the horizon yet, Kuromorimines tankery team embarked on the trip from the docked school vessel to the battlefield, where the first round against Saint Gloriana's and Maginot was to take place. While leaving her dorm, Maho saw a poster in the hall that caught her eye. It was a poster of a silhouetted Tiger I and Panther rolling over the silhouette of a burned out KV-1. In bold Japanese black letters, the words, "CRUSH ALL THOSE WHO OPPOSE!" was written at the top of it. The feeling had gotten to Maho that her mother might have taken the idea a bit too far. On the other hand, it encouraged her to lead her teammates to roll into battle and reign over their foes.

While walking pass the holding area, where the schools vehicles were held before being transferred to the starting area, Maho took a look at the list of vehicles that they would use in the fight.

* * *

1 Panzer III

1 Panzer IV

1 Jagdpanther

1 Tiger I

1 Tiger II

1 StuG III

4 Jagdpanzer IV's

5 Panther's

**TOTAL NUMBER OF TANKS:** 15 Vehicles Registered

* * *

"That's strange?" Maho said to herself, "Since when did we get a Panzer IV?"

She walked down the row of vehicles parked under the concrete roof until she located the Panzer IV. It was painted tan with side armor on both sides of its hull and turret. The Kuromorimine Iron Cross emblem was found on both sides of the turret's armored plates. Suddenly, a flashback rushed into Maho's head. It was of her Tiger I coming face to face with a drifting brown Panzer IV, followed by a tremendous boom from both cannons. Thick clouds of dark smoke came flooding into Maho's face, cause her eyes to water and her skin to darken. When the smoke cleared, a white flag popped out of the Panzer IV, followed by the announcement over the microphone. Her sister face holding an expression of defeat.

All of a sudden, Maho jolted backwards in shock and accidentally bumped into Erwin.

"Oh, please forgive me." Maho apologized.

"No, its fine. I was just going to my tank crew." she said with a small smile.

"Right, as you were."

At the same moment that Erwin walked away, Yukari walked up to Maho staring at the Panzer IV.

"Do you like it, Maho-san? Mrs. Nishizumi allowed me to pick it out myself."

"I've got a feeling that this is probably your teams old panzer." Maho said hesitantly.

"How can it, it's painted tan and has th..."

"No really, take a good hard look at it." interrupted Maho.

Yukari stared hard at the Panzer IV, searching for any similarities that she might have remembered from the past. She noticed something, a dark smudge under the Iron Cross of Kuromorimine that looked familiar to her. Squinting her eyes a little, she saw the shape of a faded out fish tail.

"That can't be right?" she said to herself, she began to slowly back away from the vehicle. Her face became pale, "What was I thinking?"

"Don't worry, I understand." Maho replied.

The intercom system in the holding ports went off, announcing the beginning of the match.

"We can discuss this later on." Maho said while turning to walk away.

When in position to begin, the smoke shot fired into the air and exploded. The fifteen tanks of Black Forest Peak stormed from their starting positions and thundered out onto the field. Maho's Tiger I took the lead, following Erika's Tiger II and then everyone else's vehicles. The brigade traveled a good mile before Maho began issuing orders.

"All teams listen up! We are going to split into two squads, one of seven and one of eight! Then we are going to separate and go to different locations."

"Roger, I'll lead one of the squads to the assigned position." Erika confirmed.

"Go to the assigned coordinates on your maps and wait for my go."

The two squads broke apart and went to their destinations. Team A which was made up of Maho's Tiger I, Yukari's Panzer IV, Koume's Panzer III, a Panther and two Jagdpanzer IV's went into the deep forest. Meanwhile, Team B, which included Erika's Tiger II, Erwin's StuG III, Jagdpanther-Chan's Jagdpanther and the remainder four Panthers and two Jagdpanzer IV's went forward to a large brush area. Peering through the periscope scope, Erika could see a large bunker-like wall in the distance with a french and a British tank sticking their guns out of holes in a concrete dome.

"Kommandant, I've spotted the enemy team." reported Erika.

"Report the enemies vehicles." ordered Maho.

"I've got eyes on an enemy Matilda and a Char B1 in the distance." said Erwin over the radio.

Erika heard the response and peered into her Tiger IIs' periscope again. The Char B1 was slightly angled in its place. Near the drivers port, Erika believed that she saw a faded out smudge of a cross-like emblem.

"Kommandant, I believe that B1 in front of me is something we've fought in the past."

"What do you mean?"

"Wait a minute... Another Ooarai tank?" Yukari said in surprise.

"It appears that were dealing with old problems again." Maho said to herself, "Listen up, all tanks follow me."

The squad drove alongside her through the thick forest area. The undergrowth and bushes giving cover to their vehicles as they drive through the woods. Like a wild crouching beast sneaking up on it's prey, Team A swiftly pass behind the wall and continued moving north while Team B stopped behind the walled area to observe from cover.

"Where do you think they're at?" asked one of the Maginot girls to a Saint Gloriana's one.

"Oh, there out there somewhere. Just try to have some more patience." she said back.

The Maginot girl groaned, "These minutes feel like hours and these hours feel like days and these days feel like months and these months feel like yea..."

"Alright, I get the point!" the sound of irritation was in the Saint Glorianas girls' voice, "I get that it feels like a year but you could have just told me that in the first place!"

"Whats the problem over here?" a voice called from a nearby radio. The two other girls looked over at each other and then were silent. Meanwhile, Darjeeling was standing on top of her Churchill VII, drinking tea and over viewing of list of vehicles for the match.

* * *

1 Churchill VII

1 Crusader

1 Cromwell

1 AT-2

1 BDR G1 B

1 Somua SAu 40

1 Char B1

2 AMX 38's

2 AMX 40

4 Matilda's

**TOTAL NUMBER OF TANKS: **15 Vehicles Registered

* * *

"It seems reasonably well for a fight like this." Darjeeling said sipping from her teacup.

Just then, her two assistance's came walking up to her tank. Orange Pekoe was holding a map in her hands while Assam was holding a pair of binoculars in her own.

"Is everything alright, commander?" Orange Pekoe asked nervously.

"Not in a situation like this."

The two girls below looked at each other in confession.

"We don't understand, commander?" Assam replied.

"Well, it's just that, we've haven't seen a tank for quite awhile now and I suppose that they're waiting for us somewhere on this battlefield." Darjeeling placed the list down on the tank turret, "I will only wait a little while longer before we retreat."

"From here? Commander this is a perfect firing position, we have them straight in front of us for open fire. Perhaps we might stand a chance if we stay here for the whole match."

"I'm afraid that's a risk I'm not willing to take." Darjeeling said lowering herself from the Churchill VII.

While watching from the stands, Shiho and Kikuyo were quietly talking next to each other.

"No combat yet, how long do you think that this will drag on?" Kikuyo asked.

"It will erupt very soon, I can assure you that." said Shiho, "Kikuyo, can you do something for me?"

"Hmm?"

"I have a list of details for a flag. Can you give it to the crafting club to create it?"

"Yes I can." Kikuyo agreed.

She looked down at the list and began reading the paper to herself. The details listed information about a orangish-yellow flag with the Kuromorimine Iron Cross in the middle of a white circle. Black lines streamed from all sides of the circle. Kikuyo thought nothing of it but a good design and was curious to see what it looked like when it was finished.

"Pay attention Kikuyo, they're about to intersect."

Coming out of the forest, Black Forest Peak was met with the back view of an open field area with trees. Their enemies' vehicles were parked behind the armored line. Erika's temptation to shoot at her enemies returned to her.

"Prepare to fire!" Erika suddenly commanded to her crew members.

"No. Hold your fire, Tiger II." Erwin ordered.

"Erika, don't do it." Maho said sternly.

"My Kommandant, they're right in front of us."

"Don't disobey your commanding officer, hold your fire." Maho ordered again.

In her Panzer IV, Yukari placed her finger on a nearby button and was about ready to push it.

"Our Kommandant is right." said Jagdpanther-Chan, "We should really..."

There was a loud boom and a shot was fired from the nozzle of a tanks cannon.

* * *

**Author's Note: **The next part of the battle will continue in the next chapter. Also, I'm finished with testing this week, so the next chapter will come out much more quickly. Thank you for all your guys' and gals' patience.


End file.
